An important feature of contemporary cellular wireless networks is an ability to locate the geographical position of a mobile station, such as, for example, a cell phone, tablet computer, tracking device, embedded wireless module, or other wirelessly equipped communication device. Such a feature was initially developed to assist emergency services in locating a mobile station. However, the availability of location information to support emergency services has given rise to the development of many other location based service (LBS) applications as well.
For example, given the location of a mobile station, a location based service provider (LBSP) (e.g., a wireless cellular carrier or third party) can provide the mobile station user with a weather or traffic report in the user's vicinity, a list of services or establishments in the user's vicinity, navigation instructions for travel from the user's location to another location, or other useful information. As another example, the LBSP can dispatch emergency assistance to the user at the user's location. And as still another example, the LBSP can report the mobile station's location to a requesting entity for various purposes, such as to facilitate tracking of the mobile station or of an associated person or object. Other LBS applications exist currently, and more will inevitably be developed in the future as well.
Typically, a wireless carrier will operate a positioning system that is arranged to determine and report mobile station locations to LBSP applications (such as 911 service centers or commercial location based information providers). The positioning system may include a mobile positioning center (MPC) and a position determining entity (PDE), which may be integrated together, or may take other forms. And the positioning system may function to determine the location of a given mobile station based on various factors and with varying degrees of granularity (i.e., precision).
In usual practice, when a mobile station seeks an LBS (such as an emergency aid dispatched to the mobile station's location, or download of content established or selected based on the mobile station's location), the mobile station may send a location based service request via a wireless packet data connection to the LBSP (or to another entity, which may send the request (or a derivative of the request) to the LBSP). In response to receipt of that request, the LBSP may then send a query to the mobile station's positioning system, seeking the location of the mobile station. In turn, the positioning system may then invoke a process to determine the mobile station's location and, upon determination of the mobile station's location, may report the location in a response to the LBSP. Based on the mobile station's location, the LBSP may then provide an LBS (such as delivering emergency aid to the mobile station's location, or delivering to the mobile station content established or selected based on the mobile station's location).